The Hudson Plains on Canada

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LOCATION

The Hudson plains are in parts of Ontario and Manitoba. Their area is about 350 000 km squared. The west edge of the Hudson Plains is around Churchill in north Manitoba, the eastern edge is around Fort Rupert, the northern edge borders Hudson Bay and James Bay and the southern edge is near Kapuskasing, Manitoba. Moosonee and Churchill are major cities in the Hudson Plains area, and lesser known cities include Attawapiskat, Fort George, Eastmain, Fort Albany, Lake River, Winisk, Fort Severn, and Shamattawa.

VEGETATION

Vegetation in the Hudson Plains mostly follows latitude patterns, because of the flat nature of the land. The Hudson Plains are a merge of boreal forest and tundra. Trees are few and far between, denser in the southern, wetter area of the ecozone. In this wetter area, the variety of plants includes: tussocks of sedge, cottongrass, sphagnum moss, dwarf birch, willow shrubs, white spruce, black spruce, larch, balsam, poplar, tamarack, and Jack Pine. In the drier area, vegetation is shrubby and low-lying. It includes Lapland rosebay, crowberry, blueberry, cloudberry, reindeer moss, caribou lichen, and herbs such as arctic aven, purple saxifrage, prickly saxifrage, and lousewort.

LANDFORMS

The average elevation in the Hudson Plains is 120m above sea level. It is a flat lowland area. The land is made up of mineral soils, with few outcrops of underlying sandstone and shale. This land was created when the weight of glaciers depressed the Hudson Bay region and the ocean waters flooded areas up to 300 km inland from the current coastline. Then, during the retreat of the huge continental ice sheets, drainage into the Hudson Bay was blocked and lakes (Agassiz and Ojibway for example) were formed along th...

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...-ums are also common.

Species of fish in streams and lakes in the Hudson Plains include northern pike, walleye, and brook trout.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

The Hudson Plains ecozone, in northern Ontario and parts of Manitoba and Quebec, is an area of wetlands. The climate is generally cool. The northern part of the ecozone is full of shrubs, but no trees, and areas farther south contain forests. Wet have vegetation such as moss and lichen and also some trees like willow, tamarack and black spruce. More northern, drier locations have vegetation consisting of many shrubs such as crowberry and blueberry. In the summer, the wetlands of the Hudson Plains attract millions of migratory birds, such as snow geese, Canada geese and king eider ducks. Mammals which can be found here include moose and black bear, but small mammals such as muskrats and weasels are more common.

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